'''Golden Atom''' was a science fiction fanzine edited by Larry Farsace (Litterio B. Farsaci) and published by Kodiak City Publications in Rochester, NY, U.S.A.

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'''Golden Atom''' was a science fiction fanzine edited by Larry Farsace ( Born Litterio B. Farsaci in1921, died 2013) and published by Kodiak City Publications in Rochester, NY, U.S.A.

Named for Ray Cummings' series that began with ''The Girl in the Golden Atom'', the first issue appeared on October 20, 1939. The first ten issues, published from 1939 till 1943, were in letter-sized mimeographed format; two special issues, appearing in 1955 and 1959, were letterpress format.

Named for Ray Cummings' series that began with ''The Girl in the Golden Atom'', the first issue appeared on October 20, 1939. The first ten issues, published from 1939 till 1943, were in letter-sized mimeographed format; two special issues, appearing in 1955 and 1959, were letterpress format.

Revision as of 21:31, 6 January 2014

Golden AtomIssue 10 Winter 1943 Cover art by Rosco E. Wright

Golden Atom was a science fiction fanzine edited by Larry Farsace ( Born Litterio B. Farsaci in1921, died 2013) and published by Kodiak City Publications in Rochester, NY, U.S.A.

Named for Ray Cummings' series that began with The Girl in the Golden Atom, the first issue appeared on October 20, 1939. The first ten issues, published from 1939 till 1943, were in letter-sized mimeographed format; two special issues, appearing in 1955 and 1959, were letterpress format.

Science Fiction writer and contributor Sam Moskowitz, editor of Helios, Different, and New Fandom, regards Golden Atom as "arguably the most valuable repository of new research and reference on SF" during the time it was initially published.

Farsace published a six-part series on the fiction of Ray Cummings titled "Golden Atom Tales" and Fred W. Fischer wrote the column "From The Observation Deck" on stories appearing in the older pulp magazines, for which Farsaci compiled bibliographies. Also included was a reprint of Donald Wollheim's Curious Stories, a fan magazine that had previously been published in an edition of only 4 copies.

Some issues of The Golden Atom, such as issues 7 and 8, were split fanzines with the Francis J. Litz publications Voice of 8 Worlds, and Outre.

Farsace erroneously attributed two letters written by Argosy reader Augustus T. Swift to H.P. Lovecraft, when Farsace reprinted
them from the Argosy in an issue of Golden Atom along with a genuine letter by Lovecraft. This error led to the perpetuation to the present day of the spurious notion amongst critics and publishers that Lovecraft had praised the work of fantasy writer Francis Stevens. (For more detail on this see [1].